Wonder Woman shattered box office records last weekend, becoming the highest-grossing film made by a female director. But Patty Jenkins hopes that one day, she won't be known as a "female director" — instead, she'll just be called a director.
During a conversation with Moira Forbes, the executive vice president of Forbes Media, at the Forbes Women's Summit on Tuesday, Jenkins was candid about being a woman in a male-dominated industry.
"I look forward to one day getting to be a director and not having anything shaded by that female lens," Jenkins told Forbes. "This film in particular, with a woman lead and with me directing, it's worth noting and commenting on. I definitely think there is a missing feminine voice in Hollywood in the first place."
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Jenkins also said that despite Wonder Woman's success — it brought in $100.5 million domestically during its first weekend — female directors aren't always the first choice for major films.
"There are women who have been running studios, there are very powerful producers, writers... There is something interesting about directing. I was a cameraperson for a long time — ten years. It’s been tremendously helpful in my career as a director because being on set was so familiar to me," Jenkins said at the summit. "There might be some sort of concept that women are less suited for understanding these technical things."
The director also had some wise words for studios: "The world is changing. If you want to get rich, pay attention to this [female] audience."
This summer, we're celebrating the biggest movie season of the year with a series called Blockbust-HER. We'll be looking at everything film-related from the female perspective, interviewing major players in the industry and discussing where Hollywood is doing right by women and where (all too often) it is failing them. And now...let's go to the movies!
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